The anticipation is building in Saudi Arabia with respect to the licensing of three mobile virtual network operators in 2013. The kingdom is seen as offering the business model its greatest chance of success in the region, and interest to participate is high from regional and international parties alike

Saudi’s three incumbent telcos shall be forced to alter their view of the market and their participation in it should they intend to survive the entry of MVNOs in tact

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The head of Saudi Telecom’s domestic operations has resigned, the company has announced. He is the latest in a string of senior resignations from the company which recently posted a 79 per cent fall in its fourth-quarter profits.

The company took one-time write downs of SAR641 million (US$170 million) on its investments in South Africa’s Cell C and India’s Aircel. The company was also hit by a SAR544 million charge from deferred taxes at Aircel.

The departure of STC’s local CEO, Jameel Abdullah al-Molhem follows the resignation of the Group and International CEOs last year.

STC declined to give further details.

Airtel reported a 72 per cent decline in net income in Q412– its twelfth straight quarterly profit decline – as the India-based mobile giant was hit by higher costs and on-going pricing pressures.

Net income for the quarter ending December 31 fell to INR2.84 billion (US$53 million) from INR10.11 billion a year ago. Sales were up 9.5 per cent to INR202.4 billion.

Profit was hit by higher depreciation costs, interest payments, forex losses and tax provisions.

“Market conditions have been challenging in recent quarters due to pricing pressures and rising input costs, which have put enormous pressure on the sector and consequently the margins,” said Airtel chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal.

The pressures in Airtel’s home market were offset slightly by the results from Africa. Airtel’s Africa revenues grew by 15 per cent, supported by a 21 per cent rise in mobile customers, a 42 per cent rise in voice traffic, and non-voice revenue growth of 85 per cent.

Airtel’s total customer base grew by 7.8 per cent year-on-year to 262.3 million, but was down slightly on a sequential basis (-0.1 per cent).

Mobile subscribers at the India and South Asia unit grew by 4.1 per cent to 189.4 million, while Africa mobile subs rose to 61.7 million.

TeliaSonera CEO Lars Nyberg has resigned after an external review of the Nordic operator group’s investments in Uzbekistan criticised how it obtained a mobile licence in 2007.

Nyberg quit after the board refused to give him support in the wake of the report by Swedish law firm Mannheimer Swartling. Per-Arne Blomquist has been appointed as president and acting CEO.

The Swedish law firm was appointed by the Nordic operator group’s board in October last year to investigate allegations of corruption and money laundering connected to its Uzbekistan operations.

The investigation “has not found any substance to the allegations that TeliaSonera committed bribery or participated in money laundering in connection with its investments in Uzbekistan”, a statement from the TeliaSonera board said.

However, TeliaSonera did receive “serious criticism” from Mannheimer Swartling for shortcomings in the investment process and for not making sufficient effort to investigate the local partner or how it “could hold the rights that were later transferred”.

In addition, internal controls were not sufficient to ensure TeliaSonera did not risk becoming involved in any unethical business.

In light of the criticism, the board concluded that the investments “were not carried out in a satisfactory manner”. It added that the company has developed new processes and “stringent risk assessment procedures” for future investments.

The investigation initially examined TeliaSonera’s investment in a 3G licence, frequencies and number blocks in Uzbekistan in 2007. It was later expanded to include more recent investments in connection with Uzbekistan.

TeliaSonera’s conduct in Uzbekistan is still being investigated by the Swedish Prosecuting Authorities. Mannheimer Swartling made “the natural observation that the suspicions of crime expressed by the Swedish Prosecution Authority cannot be dismissed by this investigation”.

The Bangladesh regulator has decided to revamp the planned 3G spectrum allocations in a move that could see more than one foreign company able to secure a licence.

The current draft guidelines would allow one new foreign entrant into the market, but the regulator has decided to split the 50MHz of spectrum into 10 blocks of 5MHz instead of the planned five blocks of 10MHz.

The plan had been to award four licences to incumbent operators, and reserve one for a new entrant. The new plans would allow more new entrants into the market, but also could allow all six existing operators to secure a 3G licence.

Abubakar Siddique, secretary in charge of post and telecommunication said that "the new slot of spectrum would not only help the small operators commercially, but it also paves the way for more foreign operators who are keen to invest here."

He confirmed that the incumbent 2G network operators had consented to the changes.

State owned Teletalk is already offering 3G services, but will be required to pay for its existing licence based on the eventual outcome of the 3G auction.

The auction is due to be held in March.